Plant Variety Development and Protection

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are globally recognized for the Protection of Plant Varieties (PPV). The PPV&FR Act, 2001 is the instrument for IPR in agriculture implemented by the GOI, which provides a balanced approach for IPR on new varieties and farmers’ varieties.

PPV&FR Act, 2001 is to provide for the establishment of an effective system for PVP, the rights of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants.

India, being one of the hot-spots of agro-biodiversity and having a long tradition of plant variety improvement in the country, implemented a sui generis Act providing for the PPV covering new, extant and farmers’ varieties. This is a unique Act in the world, which recognises the contributions of farmers in conservation and development of plant varieties and specifically addresses farmers’ rights as well as extant varieties (the number of notified released plant varieties in India is more than 8,000).

The objectives of the of PPV & FR Act, 2001 are:

Source: Dr R. R. Hanchinal, former chairperson of PPV&FRA, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, Presentation on joint workshop 29. November 2016, PPV&FR Act and UPOV Membership

The aim of the bilateral project is to strengthen the PVP System in India and to harmonize with international standards.

Tentative activities of the bilateral project under this topic are during the ongoing phase:

• Continue bilateral policy dialog and exchange of experience on the regulative framework of PVP and support Indian project partners in the further process to harmonize with UPOV convention;

• Conduct national consultation meetings/workshops with representatives of the BSA, CPVO, PPV&FRA and representatives of the private sector of both countries to exchange views and develop proposals and solutions to improve political and regulative framework conditions in the seed sector;

• Exchange on Post Plant Variety Protection Control of Registered Varieties and Implementation of Plant Breeders’ Rights;

• Continue to carry out field based training and exchange of experience on DUS/VCU testing methods in India and Germany for different crops;

• Carry out workshops in Indian and study visits to Germany/EU on latest technologies applied in DUS/VCU testing in cooperation with the BSA, i.e. data loggers, data base management, image analysis, use of BMT (bio-molecular techniques, e.g. marker technologies) in DUS testing, genetic fingerprinting, quick tests etc.;

• Capacity building of the technical person from PPV&FR Authority, ICAR-NBPGR and DUS Testing Centres on DUS testing of agriculture crops and horticulture;

• Exchange of experiences on data processing and management related to DUS and VCU Tests;

• Training on management of data and of seed samples at PPV&FRA and Crop (DUS-Testing) Coordinating Units;

• Facilitate India’s participation in UPOV Working Groups, especially in using BMT for establishing EDVs;

• Provision of information about the German/EU license fee systems for the marketing of protected varieties.